British Columbia

Bryan Adams apologizes for COVID-19 Instagram post condemned as racist, inflammatory

Canadian singer Bryan Adams has apologized for an Instagram post about COVID-19 that was widely condemned Monday as racist and inflammatory.

WARNING: This story contains offensive language

Canadian rock star Bryan Adams has apologized for an angry Instagram post about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it forced him to cancel some concerts. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams has apologized for an Instagram post widely condemned Monday as crass, racist and inflammatory.

Adams posted the apology Tuesday "to any and all that took offence" to his post.

"No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet-markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism. I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world," he wrote.

The original post on Monday blamed the global COVID-19 pandemic on "some f--king bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards."

"My message to them other than 'thanks a f--king lot' is go vegan," the caption read.

The description of the video posted on Bryan Adams's official Instagram page on Monday has been criticized as inflammatory. The singer apologized on Tuesday. (@bryanadams/Instagram)

The World Health Organization said in April that evidence suggests the novel coronavirus originated in animals in China late last year and was not manipulated or produced in a laboratory.

Scientists who have studied the virus genome have found it is likely the product of natural evolution and made the leap from wild animals to humans just as both SARS and MERS coronaviruses did, probably as the result of close animal-human contact.

Early studies suggested the virus could have come from bats. The World Health Organization (WHO) is still researching the origin of the virus.

"Bryan Adams" was trending across social media after the singer posted his rant on Instagram and Twitter. The tweet has since been deleted.

He was accused of contributing to anti-Chinese rhetoric proliferating during the pandemic. Others accused the singer of forgetting the true victims of an outbreak that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

Amy Go, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, described the post on Monday as irresponsible and "so, so, so, so racist." 

On Tuesday, she said the singer's apology was not good enough because it didn't acknowledge the racism and the potential harm caused by his message.

"Until such time that he recognizes his words ... will cause harm to specific communities, like Chinese and Asian communities, I don't think that's an apology."

With files from Katie Nicholson and The Canadian Press